Keeping data while having your smartphone's firmware upgraded
Applications, Miscellaneous, Upgrading Series 60, S60 3rd EditionQ. My Nokia smartphone is quite an early example and I've had few problems with it. I've read quite a bit about making sure to keep Symbian smartphones upgraded to the latest firmware version, but I'm worried about losing data and about the inconvenience of being without my device. Is it all worth it and what should I do to ensure I keep all my information?
A. One of the first rules of computing is that if something's actually working, don't fiddle with it! Having said that, it is always a good idea to keep PDAs and smartphones up to date, as there will be bug fixes behind the scenes that may prevent you hitting problems in the future. You can find out the version number of your firmware by going to the standby screen and typing '*#0000#'. You shouldn't have to do without your smartphone for more than a day, most service centres will do the job (in warranty, if your device is less than a year old) in a few hours.
Before you go, take out your DV RS-MMC or mini-SD card, then connect your device to PC Suite and do a 'full' backup of the main (internal) disk. When complete, turn the device off and remove the SIM card as well. Once the device has been upgraded, pop in your SIM and memory card, power it up and check it boots OK, using the same keypress to check the new software version. Finally, 'Restore' your data using PC Suite.
One thing you'll almost certainly have to do is to 're-pair' with other Bluetooth devices, but this only takes a few seconds.